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Drawing on data from a broader study which investigated the place of sport and physical activity in the lives of 15-16 year olds in England and Wales, this paper examines a relatively neglected dimension of research in physical education, namely, young people's participation in sport and physical activity through National Curriculum Physical Education (NCPE). The paper reports upon data generated by questionnaires completed by 1010 15-16 year olds who attended six secondary schools in the North-West of England and one secondary school in the North-East of Wales during 2003 and 2004. The study revealed strong inter-school variations in the mixes of sports that pupils experienced within NCPE. More specifically, the findings revealed that NCPE was largely dominated by competitive team-based sports that tend to be gender-stereotyped, alongside more individualized and less-competitive physical activities, It was also clear, however that the reported levels and forms of participation in different sports and physical activities in NCPE during Years 10 and 11 varied significantly and differentially according to gender, social class, the school which young people attended, specialist sports college status and whether youngsters studied GCSE PE. The paper concludes by suggesting that inter-school variations are probably explainable in terms of a combination of traditions, facilities and the enthusiasms and perceptions of PE teachers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper brings a speculative, sociological perspective to the nature of ‘ability’ in physical education (PE) and asks why this aspect of embodiment, with notable exceptions, has received so little critical attention in the professional discourse of PE and associated research in recent years. It is suggested that thinking about ‘ability’ has become a taken for granted absent presence in the discursive practices of PE in the UK that variously helps configure attitudes towards the body, a sense of status, value, distinction, inclusion/exclusion and embodied self. Drawing on ideas from the theoretical work of Bernstein and Bourdieu the paper raises a number of issues about the ways in which ‘ability’ is constructed within the discipline that feed the various subcultures of the PE profession, influencing teaching in schools and teacher education. The paper suggests that unless greater attention is given to ‘physical education’, rather than the interest of sport and health, the profession is unlikely to make an impact either on the ‘abilities’ or other culturally informed differences that children and young people bring to schools. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the usage of ‘race’ in high school physical education textbooks in Australia. In particular, it examines the concept of biological ‘race’ in connection with human performance in sport. DNA studies do not indicate that separate classifiable subspecies (races) exist within modern humans. A content analysis of physical education textbooks in Australia suggests that they are sites that continue to perpetuate myths of ‘race’ and the ‘science’ related to it. As such the utilization of biological ‘race’ as a variable for athletic performance naturalizes embedded biases, is anti-scientific and is potentially indicative of other racist practices within education. Further this commonsense understanding of biological ‘race’ continues to develop uncritically and unchecked. University students in the fields of exercise science and physical education generally develop from students who excelled in high school physical education (PE). The power of curriculum and pedagogy result in the reproduction of biological ‘race’ that has become reified in the field of physical education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the past decade amidst the development and implementation of new official curriculum texts and associated assessment requirements, there has been considerable international interest in senior physical education. Arnold’s three dimensions of movement have been prominent in curriculum developments and academic debates. In the state of Victoria, Australia, a new official text for the Victorian Certificate of Education Physical Education (VCEPE) was introduced in 2011. This paper re-articulates Arnold’s dimensions of movement as a framework for inquiry, centring on this development. The framework is utilised to critically examine the pedagogical intent inherent in the new VCEPE text and examine the prospective ‘slippage’ that may feature in teachers’ interpretation and implementation of the new text. Specifically, the analysis firstly draws on Arnold’s (1979) three dimensions of movement to explore ways in which different ‘ways of knowing’ in physical education have been represented in the official text, and secondly considers the prospective and potential expression of Arnold’s dimensions in teachers’ interpretation and implementation of the new text. The potential for either conservative or progressive readings of the official text is articulated. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In arguing for more comprehensive practice, policy and research considerations of assessment in physical education (PE), this paper outlines and discusses four integrated conditions of assessment efficacy for the development and promotion of productive assessment in PE. These conditions are prefaced by the proposition that quality PE requires the concerted and considered alignment of curriculum, pedagogy and assessment and the inclusion of a primary focus on assessment for learning; authentic, integrated assessment; assurance of construct validity; and socially just approaches to assessment. The conditions themselves are not new, however their integration has been a notable omission from PE literature in the past. Implicit in these conditions is a call for a broadening of the curriculum content of PE and an employment of physical activity as site for learning in multiple domains in addition to its recognition as a learning focus. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this paper is to critically review and evaluate the significance for curriculum planning in PE of studies focused on transfer of tactical knowledge. The conceptual foundation and focus of research that has investigated transfer in learning across games and sports is explored. Selected studies are systematically analysed in relation to the particular dimension of transfer examined and evidence generated to support a case for curriculum planning to be grounded upon transfer. On the basis of findings to date, it is argued that curriculum planning in PE should foreground the principle of transfer. Recommendations are made in relation to further research in this field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]